Terminal block and wire distributor including at least one terminal block

ABSTRACT

A telecommunications terminal block includes at least one contact module. The contact module features a front side and a rear side, an upper side and a lower side, a first side and a second side opposite the first side. Furthermore, the contact module features at least one row of contacts extending between the first side and the second side. The contacts are exposed at the front side. For another thing, the terminal block includes wire guides arranged at the upper side and/or lower side of the contact module. The wire guides lead cable conductors from (file front side to the first side or second side. The wire guides are grouped together into arrays, the wire guides of which each lead to a single side. At least two arrays, a first array and a second array, of wire guides, adjoin each other and at least one row of contacts of each contact module and are assigned to this row of contacts. The wire guides of each such array lead to opposite sides.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a telecommunications wire distributor includingat least one terminal block and wire guides.

BACKGROUND

A telecommunications wire distributor flexibly interconnects many leadsand cable conductors. A distinction is made between main distributorsand sub-distributors. Main distributors are usually found indoors in thetelephone company building. Sub-distributors are often accommodated insuitable housings outdoors or in relatively large shelters. Distributorscan flexibly interconnect incoming and outgoing cables by means ofcross-connects. To ensure an uncluttered arrangement and facilitate wireor cable handling, the incoming and outgoing cable conductors are guidedin the wire distributor in defined ways and means. This is brieflyexplained by way of the following example of a main distributor.However, this explanation is applicable to other wire distributors.

In a main distributor, a plurality of cables leading to the individualsubscribers are guided into the wire distributor at the subscriber side.At the so-called “backbone” side of the wire distributor, the cablesleading to a PBX (central office exchange operated by thetelecommunications company) are terminated. It is desirable to flexiblyconnect the individual subscriber lines to the individual backbonecables, and for this purpose, cross-connects are provided.

To permit changes to the cross-connects, terminal blocks are used atboth the subscriber side and the backbone side. The terminal blocksusually have at least two rows of contacts. The cables leading to thesubscribers are terminated, at one end, at the contacts in the first rowof the subscriber side terminal block. Cross-connects are terminated atthe second row of contacts in the subscriber side terminal block. Thesecross-connects are terminated, at the other end, at the first row ofcontacts in the backbone side terminal block. Cables leading to the PBXare terminated, at one end at the second row of contacts in the backboneside terminal block. The cable conductors terminated at a terminal blockare also called “incoming” and “outgoing” cable conductors.

In telecommunications systems such as the wire distributor describedabove, it is usually desirable to guide the incoming and outgoing cableconductors that are terminated at different contact rows of a terminalblock to different sides of the terminal block. In a terminal blockhaving horizontal rows of contacts, cable conductors terminated at alower row of contacts of a terminal block can be routed downwards at aposition alongside the terminal block. Correspondingly, the cableconductors terminated at an upper row of contacts are routed upwards andalongside the terminal block. In one type of main distributor, thecontact rows of the terminal block are horizontal. A cable in whichseveral cable conductors leading to the PBX or to the system are groupedtogether (hereinafter referred to as “backbone cable”), can beintroduced from below to a terminal block at the backbone side of themain distributor. The cross-connect wiring may be brought out at the topof the backbone side terminal block and routed to the subscriber side ofthe main distributor.

The cable conductors are then further grouped together into bundles andthen lead to other terminal blocks. The fact that the cable conductorsare routed along side the terminal blocks, has the consequence that thecable conductors terminated at the horizontal rows of the terminalblock, need to be routed to a particular side of the terminal block.

In another type of main distributor, the rows of contacts at thebackbone side of the main distributor are provided in a verticalorientation and wire guides are oriented in the vertical direction. Thecable conductors on the left-hand side are usually routed towards thebottom of the distributor, and on the right-hand side, towards the top.This is similar to the aforementioned type of a main distributor whichhas terminal blocks with horizontal rows of contacts arranged in astacked configuration, wherein both the subscriber as well as backboneterminal blocks are stacked vertically in a sole bay. Also in this case,to permit uncluttered arrangement of the wiring, the backbone orsubscriber wiring needs to be brought out at a side other than that ofthe cross-connect wiring. Typically, the relation between a certain rowof contacts and the assigned wire guide is such that the cableconductors terminated at the one row of contacts are brought out to adifferent defined side than the cable conductors terminated at anotherrow of contacts. To ensure a reliable, uncluttered routing of theindividual cores, it is desirable to provide suitable wire guides. Forexample, at the upper side and lower side of a terminal block, wirerouting troughs may be provided that lead the terminated cable cores ofdifferent rows of contacts to different sides of the terminal block.

ADSL, asymmetric digital subscriber line, is a broadband communicationstechnology that can move data over regular telephone lines at speeds upto 140 times faster than analog modems. ADSL technology splits theexisting twisted-pair telephone lines into two frequency ranges. Thefrequency range below 4 kHz is reserved for voice service (calledPOTS—Plain Old Telephone Service). The frequency range above 4 kHz isreserved for high-speed data. This split allows the use of the same linefor phone calls (voice signals) and network access (high-speed data) atthe same time. The technology is called “asymmetric” because morebandwidth is reserved for receiving data than for sending data. Downloadspeeds can range from 256 Kilobits per second up to 8 Megabits persecond and upload speeds can range from 16 to 640 Kilobits per second.

XDSL is used in the present disclosure to refer generically to differentversions of DSL technology that transmit combined signals, both data andPOTS signals at the same time, over twisted-pair telephone lines. In anXDSL network a line connects an end user to a node. Modems at each endof the line transmit and receive the signals.

Splitters are circuits often located inside the modems. Splitters, suchas low and high pass filters, separate the incoming voice signal fromthe data signal. The voice signals are then routed over the voicenetwork, while the data signals are coupled to the data network. As willreadily be appreciated, a node or central office exchange (PBX)servicing several thousands of subscribers has to manage acorrespondingly large number of lines coming in and out.

DE 201 04 605 U1 relates to an ADSL terminal block including a splitter.This terminal block is intended to replace existing terminal blocks,when ADSL technology is installed in place of existing (sole) POTStechnology. In order to facilitate the intended replacement, certaincontacts in both contact rows of the terminal block are reserved forPOTS wires. As the POTS wires will always be connected with the POTScontacts of a particular contact row, the POTS contacts of the otherrows will not be used. Furthermore, as wire guides leading to differentsides, are associated with different contact rows, POTS wires can beguided to either side of the terminal block by connecting the POTS wireswith the contacts of a particular row and, furthermore, using the wireguides associated therewith. This feature may enhance the flexibility ofthe desirable terminal block. However, there will always be severalcontacts of the terminal block which will not be used, as contacts forconnecting POTS wires are reserved in both contact rows and only thoseof a particular contact row will be used.

DE 31 30 133 C2 relates to a distributor block consisting of connectionelements to which cable conductors are terminated, and so-called “wirerouting elements”. The wire routing elements comprise two arrays of wirerouting troughs, the first array leading to one side of the distributorblock and the second array to the other side. In a stacked arrangement,the two arrays of wire routing troughs, including different wire routingelements, are each used for a specific connection element and adjoinsuch element. Accordingly, the terminated cable conductors can bebrought out only at a single defined side on either side of the functionelement.

DE 26 43 186 C2 relates to a similar configuration.

DE 26 43 046 C3 describes an interfacing distributor provided with awire routing module in which two arrays of wire routing troughs areconfigured. A first array of wire routing troughs extends from the frontside to one side of the module and a second array extends from the rearside of the module to the other side of the module. No wire routingtroughs are provided at the second side of the module.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention provides a telecommunications terminal block as describedin claim 1 as well as a wire distributor as described in claim 9.Preferred embodiments are derivable from the dependent claims.

The invention provides a telecommunications terminal block with at leastone contact module. The contact module has front, rear, upper, and lowersides. Separating the upper and lower sides and extending between thefront and back sides, are two side walls. The front, rear, upper andlower sides, together with the side walls, form the outer surface of thecontact module as such. In an embodiment, in which the contact moduleand the wire guide described below are integrated into one housing, thehousing can have additional side walls. At least one row of contacts isprovided in the contact module and the row extends between thesidewalls. The contacts provided on the front side of the contact moduleare exposed, and incoming and outgoing cable conductors can beterminated at the contacts. The contacts may be of the IDC, wire-wrap orany other type. The terminal block further comprises at least two arraysof wire guides positioned or mounted on the upper side, the lower sideor both the upper and lower sides of the contact module. Within eacharray of wire guides, all of the guides lead in the same direction,i.e., toward one side wall. However, the wire guides in one array willlead toward a different sidewall than wire guides in another array. Theterm “lead” in connection with the present invention means that wireguides are capable of and adapted to guide cable conductors to aparticular side. This side is referred to as the side, to which the wireguides “lead”. At least two arrays of wire guides, the wire guides ofwhich lead to opposite sides, are assigned to said row of contacts. Thisassignment means that the wire guides of the assigned arrays of wireguides are reserved for those cable conductors, which are terminated atthe row of contacts, to which the arrays are assigned. Thus, by means ofthe described terminal block, plural contact rows have at least twoarrays of wire guides, which are assigned to the individual contact row.Therefore, either array of wire guides can be used to lead the cableconductors terminated at the contact row to a particular side. Thisassignment of at least two arrays of wire guides is, as described inmore detail below, derivable from the fact, that, in a stacked oradjacent arrangement of plural terminal blocks, the number of arrays ofwire guides is higher than the number of contact rows.

The above-described arrangement of wire guide arrays enables cableconductors terminated at a contact row to be guided toward either sidewall. The wire guides can be configured as open or closed wire routingtroughs. Furthermore, the wire guides can be formed on a plate-likemember comprising at least one plate and a number of webs extendingsubstantially perpendicular therefrom, between which the wire guides areformed. These can be closed by means of an additional plate placed onthe tops of the webs.

In one embodiment of the invention, the contact module includes at leasttwo rows of contacts extending between the side walls. As describedabove, the contacts on the front side are exposed and incoming andoutgoing cable conductors can be terminated at the contacts. However, inthis embodiment, the terminal block comprises at least three arrays ofwire guides which can be mounted or positioned on the upper side orlower side of the contact module.

For flexible guidance of the cable conductors, two arrays of wire guidescan be positioned at or mounted on the lower side of the contact module,and, on the upper side of the contact module, there is a further arrayof wire guides.

Terminal blocks with horizontal rows of contacts in the contact modulesis one possible configuration of the terminal block in accordance withthe invention. The invention is not limited to such configurations. Forexample, the row or rows of contacts may just as well extend vertically.However, for the sake of simplicity and illustration, the followingdescription relates to a horizontal orientation of the row of contacts.

Mounted on the contact module at the upper side and/or lower side arethe wire guide arrays. The wire guides ensure an expedient anduncluttered arrangement routing of cable conductors to the contacts ofthe terminal block. Any structure suitable for guiding cable conductorsat least punctiform toward one of the side walls of the terminal blockwill be suitable for use in this invention. Typically, the wire guidescan be oriented parallel to the upper side and lower side of theterminal module and are either open or closed, juxtaposed together intoan array. In one configuration, the wire guides have a plurality ofconcentric, approximately quarter-circle or similarly curved, adjacenttroughs which can be open or closed. When mounted on the terminalmodule, such troughs curve from the front side toward a side wall.Closed wire guides with integral top, bottom and sidewalls may be usedin the invention. Alternatively, wire guides with open wire routingtroughs defined by a bottom and sidewalls and provided with a separateplate-type cover are also useful.

The wire guides can also be formed by a plurality of hook-shapedelements, e.g. a wire routing comb, wherein a wire routing comb isunderstood to be a row of substantially hook-shaped wire guides.

The wire guides are grouped together into arrays, the wire guides ofeach array leading to a single side. Such an array of wire guides may beintegrated, for example, in a substantially rectangular plate-likecomponent including a juxtaposed arrangement of open or closed troughs.The wire guides of an array may be arranged in a single plane. Toseparate the wire guides of other arrays from each other, other arraysmay be arranged in other planes. It is conceivable to assign eachcontact of a row of contacts to two wire guides, i.e. one leading to theleft-hand side and one leading to the right-hand side. As analternative, two arrays of wire guides may be arranged in a singleplane, in a juxtaposed arrangement. By suitably guiding the cableconductors through each of the wire guides, it is possible (at least forsome contacts) to guide the cable conductors either to the left-handside or right-hand side. It is just as possible, of course, to combinethe various configurations and arrangements of wire guides as describedin any way as needed.

For the terminal block the flexibility of guiding the cable conductorsin this way is substantially enhanced by assigning a single row ofcontacts to an array of wire guides which lead to different sides of theterminal block. This enables cable conductors terminated at contacts ofa single row of contacts to be guided to any side of the terminal blockand this provides novel flexibility to the user without sacrificing theability to maintain a certain order in routing of cable conductors fromthe terminal block. Hitherto it was conventionally the case, that acertain row of contacts had to be assigned to a particular side of aterminal block. At this side the further run of the cable conductors, ascited above, was defined, for example, downwards or upwards by thedefined architecture of the wire distributor. Accordingly, it washitherto the case that certain rows of contacts could only be used for acertain function, for example, for terminating cable conductors at thesubscribers. Other rows of contacts could only be used for terminatingcross-connect or backbone cables due to the traditionally definedrouting directions of bundled cable conductors.

It is now possible to bring out cable conductors terminated at aparticular row of contacts to either side of the terminal block. At theleft-hand side and right-hand side of the terminal block the directionsfor routing the cable conductors are defined, namely upwards ordownwards. The invention thus provides added flexibility as to whether aterminated cable conductor can be further routed upwards or to the sideat which it is routed further downwards. In particular, the side, towhich a terminated cable conductor can be guided, is independent fromthe contact row, at which it is terminated. By means of the invention,the terminated cable conductor can flexibly be guided towards eitherside. In this manner it is possible to continue the guiding of theterminated cable conductor along side the terminal block in the upwardsor downwards direction without harming the uncluttered arrangement ofthe cable conductors. The novel terminal block accordingly makes itpossible to use the rows of contacts with added flexibility.

The advantages of the invention can be achieved, for example, in aso-called “reversible block”. This block has, at its front side, a rowof contacts for terminating cable conductors, and at its rear side, asimilar row of contacts for terminating cross-connect wires. In such aconfiguration, a single array of wire guides is basically sufficient;provided two such blocks are stacked, and a sole array of wire guides islocated between the row of contacts in each of the blocks. In aconventional arrangement, the cable conductors terminated at thecontacts could be brought out only to the side to which the wire guidesof the array run.

Now, with the invention, two arrays of wire guides can be assigned to arow of contacts. The wire guides of each array leading to a differentside. The cable conductors terminated thereby can, thus, be optionallybrought out at either side. This makes the contacts and the terminalblock substantially more flexible.

A further embodiment has a contact module with two rows of contacts. Atleast one row of contacts is assigned to two arrays of wire guides, andeach array leads to a different side of the terminal block,substantially adding to the unit's flexibility of use. The second row ofcontacts, may also be assigned two arrays of wire guides, each leadingto a different side. It is, however, just as conceivable to have asingle array of wire guides leading to a particular side for either orboth rows of contacts. Furthermore, a third array may be provided, forexample consisting of “wire guide combs”.

The use of closed wire routing troughs, in the invention offers theadvantage that cable conductors terminated at the terminal block arewell protected in their routing to the sides of the terminal block,providing an uncluttered arrangement and preventing the cable conductorsfrom being released from the contacts accidentally.

When access to a side of a terminal block is difficult afterinstallation, substantially hook-shaped wire guides are sufficient. Inthis arrangement, the hooks protruding sideways may extend to one, orboth, side(s) of a short web that can be attached to the housing of theterminal block, resulting in a mushroom-like attachment web having twohooks protruding sideways from its ends. Arrangement of several suchwire guides on one side of the terminal block is a conceivable type of awire routing comb. It will be appreciated, of course, that wire guidesmay be provided on all sides of the terminal block in accordance withthe invention and they may be open as well as closed. More particularly,the wire guides may have an open trough configuration in one terminalblock and the open side can be covered by a directly adjoining terminalblock.

The advantages in accordance with the invention are basically availableby simply assigning the arrays of wire guides to the terminal block.More particularly, the wire guides may be configured in separatecomponents, so-called wire plates and each may be assigned to a terminalblock. Wire guides, which can be wire routing plates, can be integratedin the housing of the terminal block. More particularly, substantiallyplate or disk-shaped components in which the wire guides are configuredcan be fixedly attached to the housing of the terminal block, or thehousings of the components can be integrated into a common housing. Moreparticularly, it is conceivable to configure the terminal block inaccordance with the invention, as a terminal block with wire guides oneach side. Configuring the terminal block in accordance with theinvention with the wire guides in a dual configuration on at least oneside is also possible by attaching a component with a supplementaryarray of wire guides on one side to an array of wire guides that isalready provided there. As the wire guides of the supplementary array ofwire guides lead to a different side then the initial wire guides, theflexibility in guiding terminated cable conductors is significantlyenhanced.

Furthermore, it is just as conceivable, and may even be preferred incertain applications, to form two arrays of wire guides by producing anadapter, for example by injection molding, with wire guides that areinitially open to both sides. These wire guides are then covered on oneside by the surface of the terminal block to which the adapter is to beapplied, and covered on the other side by a relatively simpleplate-shaped component. In conclusion, on this side, as mentioned above,covering is achieved by the surface of an adjoining terminal block.

Special advantages regarding the continued use of popular wire routingmodules materialize from the embodiment in which the wire guides of anarray located more remotely from the contacts leads to the same side asthe wire guides on the opposite side of the terminal block. In otherwords, the wire guides directly adjoining the terminal block are routedto different sides. In this embodiment, the terminal block of theinvention differs in at least one respect from a known terminal block inthat on at least one of the two sides of the terminal block, asupplementary array of wire guides is provided leading to the same sideas the wire guides located directly adjoining the terminal block at theother side. In this embodiment, the terminal block permits anuncluttered configuration of the system. Adjoining each row of contactswould firstly be two arrays of wire guides leading to different sides.The added flexibility in this embodiment materializes from provision ofa further array of wire guides to permit routing of the cable conductorsof the contact row also to the other side.

Although the invention offers the cited advantages irrespective of thekind of terminal block involved, a particularly useful embodimentemploys a terminal block with at least one splitter module or assembly.The addition of the splitter assembly permits the invention to be usedas a splitter block.

When the invention includes a splitter, it permits an advantageousorganization of the terminated cable conductors. In this arrangement, asignal coming from the subscribers is substantially routed to a terminalblock on the subscriber side and from there to a splitter block at thebackbone side, and two cable conductors then lead from the splitterblock to each subscriber. One of these cable conductors leads to the PBXsystem or location, whilst the other cable conductor leads to a digitalsubscriber line access multiplexer (DSLAM) where the high bit ratesignal is processed.

However, a situation may arise in which the conductors leading to thePBX need to be terminated at the same side as those leading to thesubscriber side (or cable side). Since the wire guides at the subscriberside lead to a side other than that of the wire guides at the backboneside, the conductors leading to the backbone side would be brought outin such an arrangement at the wrong side, if not for the invention.Because the invention has wire guides present in a dual configuration,one can now route the conductors leading to the backbone side to theother side, i.e. the subscriber side, according to this novel type ofguiding the conductors. This permits traditional routing of theconductors outside of the terminal block whilst permitting anuncluttered arrangement of conductors inside the module.

Generally, the dual configuration of the wire guides on at least one ofthe two sides opens up special advantages in that the conductors leadingto the subscribers can now be terminated at one and the same side of theterminal block, when so desired, but brought out to different sides ofthe terminal block by the wire guides leading to the different sides. Itis this aspect, that advantages regarding accepted, standard cablemanagement and in uncluttered arrangement can be achieved.

Although the invention already offers these special advantages, it ispreferred within the scope of the invention to equip a wire distributor,more particularly a main distributor with at least one such terminalblock to make use of the advantages for the system as a whole. In suchan system, it is desirable to have several terminal blocks in a stackedor adjacent arrangement in the wire distributor, and between adjacent orstacked contact modules more arrays of wire guides are provided thanrows of contacts in a contact module. This reflects the “doubling” ofthe wire guides and permits the added flexibility described herein. Alsoin a single terminal block, the invention can be reflected by the factthat the number of arrays of wire guides provided is higher than thenumber of rows of contacts.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will now be detailed by way of an embodiment as shown inthe drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a view in perspective of a partial section of a terminal blockin accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of an embodiment similar to the embodiment asshown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of several terminal blocks in accordance with theembodiment as shown in FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is a plan view of several terminal blocks in accordance with afurther embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 illustrates a terminal block 10 in accordance with the invention.The terminal block 10 as shown may be provided in a telecommunicationswire distributor in which cable conductors are routed from the varioussides to the terminal block 10 as shown for terminating there. Wiredistributors usually include racks in which several of the terminalblocks 10 as shown can be mounted, stacked or juxtaposed. The cableconductors (not shown) terminated at the terminal block 10 are detailedin the following, starting from the contacts of the terminal block atthe side. At the sides of several stacked terminal blocks 10 the cableconductors brought out from the terminal block are combined togetherwith the cable conductors leading to the adjoining terminal blocks toform bundles of cable conductors. These bundles are routed, for example,to the PBX or to further wire distributors which may be located outsideof the building.

The terminal block 10 generally includes a front side 12, a rear side52, a lower side 20, an upper side 18, and two side areas 14 and 16. Thefront side 12 has a plurality of contacts 32. The upper side 18 includesa first module 34.1. The lower side 20 includes two similar modules 34.2and 34.3. Each module 34 includes at least one array of wire routingtroughs 30. The wire routing troughs 30 form wire guides suitable forguiding the cable conductors terminated at the contacts 32 to theleft-hand side 14 or right-hand side 15.

During normal use, the terminal block 10 is oriented such that its frontside 12 and the contacts 32 are exposed for terminating cableconductors. The terminal block 10 may be oriented in various ways in atelecommunications wire distributor. In one embodiment, several terminalblocks are attached together by their upper sides 18 and/or lower sides20 and are trough-mounted. In this manner, a stack of several terminalblocks 10 as shown in FIG. 1 is formed.

When the typical main distributor architecture is used, the terminalblock 10 can be trough-mounted and either vertically oriented, i.e. withthe rows of contacts 32 extending vertically, or horizontally oriented,i.e. with the rows of contacts 32 extending horizontally. Theorientation of the terminal block 10 as a whole and of the individualside surface areas 14, 16 as well as the lower side 20 and the upperside 18 may thus vary. However, based on the orientation as shown inFIG. 1, the relatively narrow face shown on the left is termed theleft-hand side surface area 14. The opposite side surface area (notvisible in FIG. 1) is termed the right-hand side surface area 16. Inaccordance with the vertical assembly position of a stack of terminalblocks 10 the side of the terminal block which is hidden in FIG. 1 formsthe upper side 18.

The front side 12 of the terminal block 10 is represented substantiallyas a dual splitter block having four rows of contacts 32. As outlinedbelow, only two rows of contacts are used. In accordance with the termcontact module, as used in the context of the invention, the rows ofcontacts in use belong to a single contact module. In other words, thedual modules (see also FIG. 2) are to be considered a single contactmodule. In the present example, the two inner rows of contacts 32 are,however, covered by a suitable plastics strip 22 and are not used. Theterminal block 10 includes a housing 54. The housing 54 has a rearportion that is provided with latches 24 for secure trough-mounting.Provided in the interior of the terminal block 10 between the row ofcontacts 32 at the front side 12 and the rear side 52, is at least onesplitter assembly 40. The splitter assembly 40 is usually applied to acircuit board. (see FIG. 2).

In the embodiment shown, the modules 34, in which the wire routingtroughs 30 are formed, substantially have the shape of a rectangularplate. The modules 34.1 and 34.2 further have a rear portion which has arouting eyelet 26, 56. The eyelet 26, 56 of each module 34.1 and 34.2 ison an opposite side of the terminal block 10, all conductors of a sideleft-hand side surface area 14 then being routed through one eyelet 26.The conductors on the right-hand side surface area 16 are routed andbundled through a second eyelet 56. As can be seen in FIG. 1, thelowermost module 34.3 does not include an eyelet in this particularembodiment. Instead, the eyelet 26 of the uppermost module 34.1, thewire guides of which route the conductors to the same side as the wirerouting troughs of the lowermost module 34, can be used.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, wire routing troughs 30 are configured on theupper side 18 of the terminal 10 leading from the front side 12 to theleft-hand side 14. Thereby, cable conductors (not shown) to beterminated by the upper row of contacts 32 can be routed from theleft-hand side 14 to the corresponding contacts 32. The cable troughs 30are usually designed for porting one pair of conductors. When, forexample, ten pairs of contacts are provided at the front side in a rowof contacts 32, the wire routing troughs 30 are configured ten innumber. The pairs ported thereby are separated directly at the contacts32 into single conductors. However, the wire routing troughs can also bedesigned for porting several pairs of conductors.

Contrary thereto, the wire routing modules 34.2 and 34.3, having theshape of a rectangular plate, at the lower side 20 are configured sothat they feature twenty wire routing troughs 30. This results in aseparate wire routing trough 30 being available for each singleconductor. The two wire routing troughs 30 of a contact pair to whichthe two single conductors of a pair are to be correspondinglyterminated, are separated from each other by projections 28 protrudingto the front side. The wire routing troughs 30 of the module 34.2 at thelower side 20, which is configured nearer to the contacts 32, lead tothe right-hand side 16 of the terminal block 10. Via this side theconductors leading to the subscribers are routed to the contacts 32 ofthe terminal block 10. As mentioned above, it may be desirableparticularly for the splitter blocks to terminate the conductors leadingto the PBX, i.e. the plain old telephone system (POTS) conductors, atthe same side of the terminal block 10 as the conductors leading to thesubscribers.

This remarkably changes the common architecture of wire distributors inwhich contacts of one row were always used for terminating conductorsleading to the subscribers, whereas contacts of a different row wereused for the POTS conductors. Now, by means of the invention, the POTSconductors can be brought out at the correct side of the terminal block10, i.e. the side opposite to that to which the conductors leading tothe subscribers are brought out. For this purpose the second wirerouting module 34.3 at the lower side 20 is provided. The wire routingtroughs 30 of this additional module 34.3 lead to the left-hand side ofthe terminal block 10. Also in this lowermost module 34.3 the two wirerouting troughs 30 belonging to a contact pair are also separated fromeach other by projections 28 at the front side 12.

It is to be noted that the possibility of bringing out the conductorsterminated at the lower row of contacts 32 to either side, as describedabove, is not restricted to conductors leading to the subscribers, onthe one hand, and POTS conductors, on the other. Instead, one and thesame row of contacts 32 can be used for terminating both cross-connectwires and conductors leading to the subscribers or POTS conductors. Alsoin this case, in order to comply with the desired architecture of a wiredistributor, connectors having a different purpose should be brought outto different sides. The terminal block 10 can be used advantageously tosatisfy this requirement in ensuring reliable and accurate wiring.

In the interior of the wire routing modules 34.2 and 34.3 the separationis provided by webs 36 which adjoin the projections 28 and areconfigured relatively thick-walled in the case of the upper wire routingmodule 34.2 located at the lower side 20. The two wire routing troughs30 of a contact pair are separated from each other at the lower wirerouting module 34.3 by thinner walled webs 60. In the example embodimentshown, the wire routing troughs 30 of the upper wire routing module 34.2are separated from each other throughout by relatively thick webs 36.This configuration may be further simplified to advantage by the upperwire routing module 34.2 directly adjoining the terminal block beingopen to the lower side, as shown in FIG. 1.

The lower side of the wire routing troughs 30 is covered to a certainextent by the surface of the additional wire routing module 34.3attached to the lower side. The last-mentioned lower wire routing module34.3 comprises corresponding wire routing troughs 30 closed to bothsides so that in accordance with the orientation as shown in FIG. 1 thelower side 20 of the terminal block is formed by a continuous surface.However, the upper wire routing module 34.2 may also comprise likewise acontinuous surface so that to advantage this wire routing module can beput to use unchanged as regards popular terminal blocks.

Accordingly, the additional, lower wire routing module 34.3 would notrequire a “floor” for the wire routing troughs 30 in contact with theupper wire routing module 34.2. The wire routing troughs 30 are closedoff at their upper side by the surface of the upper wire routing module34.2, whereas at the other, the lower, side the wire routing troughs 30are closed off by the continuous surface 20 forming the lower side ofthe terminal block 10 in the orientation as considered.

Otherwise, the wire routing troughs of all wire routing modules 34 areconfigured to form substantially concentric bends. As shown in FIG. 1, awire routing trough of the lowermost module 34.3, and located at theoutermost right-hand edge, ends as the rearmost wire routing trough atthe left-hand side 14 of the terminal block 10. It is to be noted thatthe housing 54 in general, as well as the wire routing modules 34, whichcan be integrated with the housing 54, are preferably made of a plasticsmaterial. Furthermore, these components can be produced by injectionmolding. At the front side 12, the wire routing troughs 30 canpreferably have a (tangential) direction which is substantially parallelto the front-to-rear direction. At the left-hand side 14 and right-handside 16, the wire routing troughs 30 can extend in a direction slightlyinclined with regard to the left-right direction. This inclinationpreferably extends somewhat to the rear side. This facilitates furtherrouting of the conductors towards the eyelets 26, 56.

Referring now to FIG. 2 there is illustrated a terminal block 110 inaccordance with the invention in an exploded view in perspectiveconfigured in accordance with a preferred embodiment as a so-calledsplitter block. Provided at the front side 12 of the terminal block 110,the same as in the embodiment as shown in FIG. 1, are firstly four rowsof contacts 32 in two splitter modules 38. The uppermost and lowermostrow of contacts 32 are considered outer rows of contacts 32. Rows ofcontacts adjacent to each other are referred to as inner rows ofcontacts. The two inner rows of contacts are covered by a suitableplastic strip 22 and are not in use. However, it is to be understoodthat the aforementioned splitter modules 38 belong to a single contactmodule as such term can be understood in the context of this disclosure.As outlined below, at least one row of contacts of the contact module,making use of two splitter modules, is provided with dual arrays of wireguides. Splitter assemblies 40 in the form of suitable filters areapplied to a circuit board 42 and are connected to the contacts 32 ofthe terminal block 110 via suitable tracks and by means of contacts 44provided on the circuit board. The contacts 32 of the terminal block aresuitably connected to the splitter assemblies 40 so that, for example,the communicated signal can be separated into a POTS signal and a datasignal.

As illustrated in FIG. 2 the terminal block 110 furthermore includes inthe interior a grounding plate 46. In the example embodiment as shown, ahousing 54 of the terminal block is formed, for one thing, by therectangular plate-shaped wire routing modules 34 as already shown inFIG. 1 and, for another, by side parts 48, a left-hand side part 48.1and a right-hand side part 48.2. For the left-hand side part 48.1suitable retaining contours for locating-the components in the interiorof the terminal block may be provided. For example, by suitable latchingmeans the wire routing modules 34 may be combined with the side parts 48to configure a housing 54 closed off on all sides with latching means 24for securing the terminal block to a rack-mounting system (not shown).In the embodiment shown, the eyelets 26, 56 (FIG. 1) are made up of afirst portion 26.1, 56.1, which is each formed integrally with theuppermost module 34.1, on the one hand. On the other, the side parts 48include further portions 26.2 and 56.2 of the eyelets. These portionscooperate in forming eyelets similar to the eyelets 26, 56 which areshown in FIG. 1. However, in the embodiment as shown in FIG. 1 theentire eyelets 26, 56 are formed on the module 34.1 and 34.2respectively. It is to be noted that a configuration including a wirerouting module 34.1 at the upper side 18 and a wire routing module 34.2at the lower side 20 corresponds to the conventional configuration of aterminal block featuring on each side an array of wire guides 30 leadingto different sides.

The terminal block 110 includes a third wire routing module 34.3provided additionally at the lower side 20. The wire routing troughs 30of this additional wire routing module 34.3 lead to the side, namely theleft-hand side as shown in FIG. 2, other than that of the wire routingtroughs 30 of the wire routing module 34.2 arranged thereabove.

Referring now to FIG. 3 there is illustrated, how in an arrangement ofseveral terminal blocks 10 or 110 juxtaposed, three arrays of wirerouting troughs 30 are provided in each case between the terminal blocksin a stacked arrangement. The wire routing troughs 30 of each module34.1, 34.2 and 34.3 form an array of wire routing troughs, adapted toguide the conductors to a single side. The number of three arrays ofwire routing troughs 30 is thus higher than the number of two rows ofcontacts 32 provided at each terminal block 10 or 110. Rows of contactsin this context are understood to be the rows of contacts which areactually in use. In other words, the number of rows of contacts is notformed additionally by the two inner rows of contacts (cf. FIG. 2) whichare covered by the plastic strip 22. Instead, in the terminal block 10or 110 only two rows of contacts 32 are in use. As cited above, thesetwo rows of contacts 32 merely necessitate two arrays of wire guides,i.e. one on each side, the upper side 18 and lower side 20, of theterminal block 10 or 110. In accordance with the invention, however, twoarrays of wire routing troughs 30 are provided at one side, i.e. on thelower side in accordance with the embodiment as shown. Therefore, thecable conductors to be terminated by the bottom row of contacts 32 canbe routed by flexible ways and means to both sides, i.e. from the leftor right in the orientation as shown, to the contacts 32. This isachieved due to the fact that the wire routing troughs 30 of the arrayof the module 34.2 extend to a side other than that of the wire routingtroughs 30 of the other module 34.3. The lower side 20, having the twoarrays of wire routing troughs 30, directly adjoins the next terminalblock 10, at the upper side 18 of which another array of wire routingtroughs 30 is provided. Consequently, by novel ways and means, unlikeprior art, more arrays of wire guides, namely three, are now availablethan rows of contacts, namely two, at each terminal block 10 or 110. Itis just as possible to provide another configuration between twoadjoining terminal blocks featuring only a single row of contacts at thefront side 12 with two arrays of wire guides between two rows ofcontacts. This enhances the flexibility in terminating the cableconductors to the sole existing row of contacts.

Referring now to FIG. 4, there is illustrated in a view similar to thatas shown in FIG. 3, terminal blocks 210 in accordance with the inventionjuxtaposed or stacked. In this arrangement, two arrays of wire routingtroughs 30 are provided at the lower side 20 as shown in FIG. 4, whereasat the upper side of each terminal block 210, wire guides in the form ofseveral dual hooks 50 are provided. These hooks 50 have a substantiallymushroom-shaped configuration and hook-shaped sections protruding from aweb provided for attachment to the housing 254 of the terminal block210. For the two-side outermost hooks of this embodiment the hook-shapedprotruding element does not extend to the outer side at which there isno further wire to be routed. Instead, it extends only to the adjoiningwire routing element. As evident from the contact surface area betweentwo blocks 10, three arrays of wire guided are provided, namely twoarrays of wire routing troughs 30 and one array of dual hooks 50. Sincethe terminal block comprises two rows of contacts it applies in the caseof this embodiment too, that the number of arrays of wire guided ishigher than the number of rows of contacts.

1. A telecommunications terminal block including: at least one contactmodule including a front side and a rear side, an upper side and a lowerside, a first side and a second side opposite the first side, as well asat least one row of contacts extending between the first side and thesecond side which are exposed at the front side, and at least two arrayseach comprising at least two wire guides arranged at the upper sideand/or lower side of the contact module, which lead cable contactorsterminated at the contact from the front side to the first side or thesecond side, the wire guides of each array each leading to a singleside, whereby at least two of the arrays adjoin each other and at leastone row of contacts and are assigned to said row of contacts, andwhereby the wire guides of the each such array lead to opposite sides.2. The terminal block as set forth in claim 1, having wire guides thatare closed wire routing troughs.
 3. The terminal block as set forth inclaim 1, having wire guides that are substantially hook-shaped.
 4. Theterminal block as set forth in claim 1, further comprising a housing,whereby each at least one contact module and its wire guides areintegrated into the housing.
 5. The terminal block as set forth in claim1, having a first array of wire guides provided at the lower side or theupper side, a second array of wire guides provided at the upper side orthe lower side opposite the first array of wire guides and a third arrayof wire guides provided at the lower side or the upper side, which leadto the same side as the wire guide of the array of wire guides locatedopposite the third array of wire guides.
 6. The terminal block as setforth in claim 5, wherein all wire guides of that side, on which thethird array of wire guides is provided, are closed wire routing troughs,and the wire guides of the opposite side are substantiallyhooked-shaped.
 7. The terminal block as set forth in any of claim 1,wherein the wire guides of all arrays are closed wire routing troughs.8. The terminal block as set forth in claim 1, further comprising atleast one splitter module.
 9. A wire distributor, more particularlytelecommunications main distributor, including at least one terminalblock as set forth in claim
 1. 10. The wire distributor as set forth inclaim 9, characterized by it including a plurality of terminal blocksstacked or adjacent to each other, whereby between any two contactmodules, there are provided more arrays of wire guides than there arerows of contacts within the contact modules.